I Broke Down Instagram's Algorithm for You

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⏰ Today’s Edition

• A step-by-step breakdown of Instagram’s new algo change

• What this all means

• Top updates of the week

• And more…

Today’s letter is short and sweet.

I will break down Instagram’s new changes to the algorithm the same way I did with clients when I worked at Meta.

I used to get paid to communicate elaborate changes like this to help clients and partners get on board ASAP.

I will also tell you what this all means to you and tactical things you can take to make your content have more reach.

A Step-by-Step Breakdown of Instagram’s New Algorithm Changes

ICYMI: Instagram announced major changes to its ranking and recommendation system that will do the following:

• Give smaller creators more distribution (Reach)

• Replace reposts with original content

• Adding labels to reposted content, linking to the original creator.

• Removing content aggregators (e.g. meme pages that repost from the original creator) from recommendations

Here’s the post for the announcement:

Let’s break the announcement one slide at a time. I will tell you what all of this means (and doesn’t mean).

More Distribution (Reach)

What this means

Previously, the algo was giving more distribution (reach) to accounts with bigger following, with this change, the algo will start showing more love to smaller accounts (defined as accounts with up to 10K followers).

This does not mean that bigger accounts will have limited reach, it only means that smaller ones can now enjoy that too.

This could also mean that regular feed posts will affect your Reels reach, but to me, it sounds like the focus remains mainly on Reels.

Once you post, your content is shown to a small audience, if this audience engages well with this piece of content, it gets exponential reach. I think this part is clear.

Surfaces = Reels, Stories, Posts, each one of these is called a “surface” internally at Meta.

Recommendations = Content that comes from profiles that you don’t follow. Reels and posts are recommendable, Stories are not (more on this later)

Distribution = Meta’s internal term for Reach; they are interchangeable.

Rewarding Original Content

What this means

Firstly, original content is kind of a big deal at Meta. They’ve been cracking down on unoriginal content on Facebook, and now it seems like it’s rolling out to IG as well.

Meta wants you to create original content. Period.

I really, really, recommend you read this detailed explanation of what Meta considers original content. The information is out there, and I don't understand why creators and media outlets haven’t caught up yet. So, yes, read the guidelines, please.

Instagram will limit the reach of unoriginal/reposted content and will link to the original post.

How does the algo know what’s original?

It knows from thousands (maybe millions?) of data points and signals that it reads from content that’s posted on the platform. Yes, there’s a margin of error, but it gets it right most of the time.

Examples:

• Vlogs, content shot by the creator, etc. = original content

• Green-screen reactions with meaningful commentary on an existing video = original content (Meta calls this ‘meaningful enhancements’ to content)

• Adding an emoji to a video, or a meme bar to an existing video = unoriginal content

Removing Aggregators from Recommendations

What this means

Meme pages that repost content without creating their own memes, and pages that ‘feature’ other people’s content (remember the '“Want to feature this on XYZ…” comments? Yep 🙄) will no longer be recommended.

You will not find them on your explore page, nor on the feed.

Meta will penalize these accounts with strikes.

Strikes kill distribution. So, take heed.

My Recommendations To You

If you’re a smaller creator or page, this is great news.

This is great news regardless of the size of your IG account.

Here’s what you need to do:

• If you can, ramp up your Reels production ASAP, so that when these algo changes take place, you will be able to leverage them quickly

• How many Reels? There’s no correct answer. It used to be 3-5 Reels per week, but I also understand that smaller creators don’t have the bandwidth for that. Start at 1-3 Reels per week and test

• On Meta, you have to test consistently for at least 6 weeks. This is the time it takes for the algo to ‘learn’ your posting cadence and engagement habits. Six weeks, nothing less.

• Recommendations work on Reels and Posts, because:

  • Reels and Posts are the ‘surfaces’ that are served to people who don’t know about your page. They are your follower acquisition drivers. If you want more followers, double down on Reels and Posts.

  • Stories are your retention and engagement surface for those who already follow and know you. Stories rarely (if ever) help in growing follower numbers.

• Read the guidelines I shared in this letter

A Mini-IG Content Strategy

Here’s the 5-second version of a robust IG content strategy